Racism in Senegal

Racism.....ugh... There is really no good way to discuss this subject but i experience it daily firsthand and want to share some of my expriences. Normally when someone mentions racism, most people in America would immediately think of racism against black people. I use the word black people not in a negative way but i just want to reinforce there are other black people besides african americans.... anyway, racism against white people is a part of life here. I CANNOT walk outside the door without being called TOUBAB by a screaming child, waiving frantically down the street. I here "TOUBAB, MAY MAA XAALIS" (White person, give me money!) more often than i here my own name. I think i have been a pretty good sport about it thus far but today i finally hit a breaking point. Toubab is a word Senegalese people use loosely for white person. Yay, ok maybe its not THAT racist to call me toubab all the time but why is my race even noticed???? When i was living in Kenya I was called Mzungu daily and realized its a part of life that will never change. I have talked with many Senegalese people about the term toubab and they describe it as nothing rude or negative at all. People describe it as saying something like "American" or "Senegalese." They just say "Why do you get so mad??? You ARE a Toubab." And yes, i suppose i am a white person. I have become quite used to the word toubab and have accepted it as part of my name... Aissatou Toubab. (My name is Aissatou here if any of you have forgotten). But today something happened and i snapped. There is another word people use here that is very derogatory.... Hoonk A Noop! This means "Red Ears." I draw the line with toubab. When someone says Hoonk a Noop, they know its mean and racist but they do it anyway. In my opinion its like calling an african american the "N Word"..there is nothing more demeaning than this. Anyway, today I decided to head down to the salon and get my hair braided for Tabaski. Women getting their hair done for Senegalese holidays is a must. I like to play along and get big braids and the people here love it. So i walk into the salon and discuss what i want and the price. All was well until i sat done and the girl starting braiding. All of the sudden another girl working in the salon decided to start talking about me. I didnt say anything because people talk about me constantly but then i heard the magic words... Honk a noop. I heard her say it and i repeated what she said to back to her and all the girls working started giggling and looking down at the floor. I starting undoing all the braids i had in my hair and the women were in shock. I grabbed my purse and just told them that Senegal is a bad place and i walked out the door. I walked home so mad. Racism sucks. It doesnt matter where, when, or why... it sucks. A fw minutes after i got home, the regional house guard came and got me and told me the ladies from the salon were out front. I went out and they apologized and said that it was one of their students that said it and they would braid me for free if i would agree to come back. Lets just say i will not be going back there. No amount of money or free braiding is worth someone treating me like im worthless and dont exist. I am shocked that the girl said it so freely knowing that i can speak Wolof. Our previous conversation was in Wolof.

All in all, racism is terrible but i will say that it has been a life changing exprience to be here and experience racism against white people. White Americans have to admit that they have it pretty easy in the racism department. Here, that is not the case. I have learned how it feels to be the minority. I have also learned what it feels like to have a child see me and run away terrified because they have never seen a white person before. I have learned what it feels like to have someone think I am worthless and stupid because I do not have the same skin color as them. I have learned what it feels like for people to think I am the richest person in the world and beg me to buy them this, that, and the other just because I am white. I have also learned that apparently Barack Obama, Akon, and I are all friends and live near each other in America. While experiencing all of these things has been less than fun at times, I will add that I would have never learned all of these things had i not come here. I appreciate all the things i have had to go through to get to where I am. It has given knowledge that is worth more than anyone could ever pay me and for that, I am thankful.

With that being said, i would like to say Happy Thanksgiving to all of my family and friends at home. I am thanksful for eah and every one of you. Ablaye and I fly into the states on Dec 7th and will be there until Jan 2nd. We are both very excited to get home and see all the people i have missed for so long. Just 13 days left!

new baby!!!!

Congratulations Crystal and Andy! Im so excited!!! i know i havent written on here in awhile but i wanted to write a quick post and wish my big sister and brother in law the best and to say congratualtions on the birth of their baby girl. Mommy and baby are both doing great!

I have less than three weeks until i will be back in the states for christmas. i dont have much else to talk about because America is on my mind 24/7.... especially with the birth of the new baby. I have mentally checked out of Senegal... the next few weeks are going to be tough. Work has kept be insanely busy but ill write about that another time... as for today... im just daydreaming about the beautiful niece that will be waiting for me when i get home :)

14 month in....

Its been almost a year now that i have been out of training and in the village and actually working as a volunteer... Other volunteers and i were talking about Peace Corps today and pretty much reflecting on what we have/have not learned or done in the past year. I have been in Senegal now for going on 15 months. If i would have known then what I know now, i dont know if i would be here today... not that i regret my decision to be here one bit. It has been the best experience i have ever had and i have learned so much about myself and about life in general. BUT Peace Corps is HARD. Its as simple as that. I dont like writing negative things on here because people at home worry. My thoughts today are not negative in any way; I think they are just reality. When i left for Senegal last year, i would have never imagined that I would have been sick so much, learned to speak two other languages, learned how to sit down and do nothing without being bored. I have also learned that i love to read. I never did that in the states. I think my time here has been priceless and all volunteers say the second year is a lot more productive and fulfilling than the first. I am exited to see what the future holds in store for me for my second year here.

Things with work have been going great. I cant remember if i wrote on here previously about me taking over a Book Mobile project.. Anyway, i am now in charge of a book mobile that is run by the NGO (non-government organization) 10,000 Girls. This association is run by girls in Senegal to help give education, empowerment, and revenue generating projects to girls in Senegal that would not otherwise have it. I am taking over the Book Mobile with another volunteer, David. The point of the book mobile is to get books into the hands of children and adults so they will read... and LEARN. David and I are planning to do our first run November 17th. We are going to 4 villages. We will go to villages that have PC volunteers living in them. The volunteer in a given village is responsible for keeping track of the books there. The truck will go around to these villages one time every month. We are hoping to be able to do up to 8 villages a month in the future. We are just starting out and are still working out the kinks but the project seems to be going well...other than a few minor problems with the truck. I really believe in the project and hope its as successful as i envision. Another volunteer started the project a year ago but spent most of her time getting the materials and the truck ready... now we are ready to swoop in and get the project going and books out into the villages. We are taking donations for books in any language all the time. If you are interested in donating, let me know.

I recently signed up to host some american high school students. Im not really sure what i got myself into but i think i am hosting american high school exchange students. Two students will be coming to visit me November 2nd-7th. They have been living in Dakar and will be heading back to the states at the end of the semester and want to experience village life before returning home. Pretty much two youngsters are going to follow me around for five days... i sure hope i can find something to keep them entertained with and tat no one gets sick... ugh! Its kind of a big responsibility hosting people becaue my hut is only 4 meters by 4 meters... Not to mention all of the water i will be pulling out of the well for the three of us.... bathing, cooking, drinking, etc. It gets exhausting to say the least! But, i think i can manage to show them a good time and am actually looking forward to it.

Other work-I started English classes in Sokone. My first class will be held on October 31st. I had over 30 people sign up the first day so again... maybe i dont know what i am getting myself into. The classes will be taught in English only and are for people who have previous knowledge of English and want to better their language skills. There are several small middle and elementary school in Sokone. Many of those schools have English departments. Ideally, the teachers in those schools will all come to my classes. If I help improve their language skills, they will become better English teachers. I also went to one of the middle schools and requested to start teaching English there. They seemed really excited about it and offered to let me become a member of their English department and teach classes weekly. I am VERY excited about this but dont want to get too excited too soo. This same thing happened last year with the high school in Sokone and the school never called me back. I went there with another volunteer 4 times and they always acted very excited about working with us but when it actually came down to work, they were too lazy to do anything and never even started their English club back up after the previous year. Sometimes its so frustrating. Why would a high school refuse FREE help from native English speakers??? I am hoping to hear from this middle school within the next few days. They actually teach English during school hours so i am hoping it will be a different story than last year. Either way, I have my own adult classes starting a week from today. I need to spend some serious time on lesson plans; however, i am super excited to be teaching.

Family news- I have been having problems with my host father again...surprise, surprise!!! My blog is not the place to vent about drama within the family but i just want to say that i have never been so frustrated with an adult in my entire life. My host father has no regaurd for anyone other than himself. My family is POOR. And when i say poor, i mean it. There have been nights when i havent been able to sleep because i was so hungry. This is a reality this family cannot change because of the wrckless decisions of their "provider." Last week, he came to tell me he recently had another baby with his third wife. I definately was not shocked. The man has 4 wives and 14 children of his own, not to mention the children that his wives had with other men bfore they were married to him. If I added those children to the count, the number would be well over 20. I have never even met his 4ourth wife and have no clue how many kids she has....anyway, that is none of my business and not the point. I dont care if the man fathers 50 kids but the reason i am so angered by this man is because he does not take care of his kids... the kids i have grown to love. The kids come to me all the time because they are either sick or hungry. I do my best to help the kids out with medicine and with food. Its my pleasure to do it BUT I dont like feeling like i am being taken advantage of. For example, Khalilou is 5 years old and has worms. I have noticed him losing weight and have been just waiting for over a month to see if his father was going to step in and buy him medicine to get rid of the worms. NOPE... SURE HASNT!!! I cant decide if he just doesnt care or if he just knows i will end up buying the meds for him. I hate to do it. I dont want to buy the medicine just to spite the father but im decided im buying ittomorrow. I cant sit back and watch this kid become a bag of bones and not do anything about it. He will get whats coming to him later from someon other than me. I weighed poor Khalilou and he is 11 kilograms...which is approximately 24 lbs!!!Dont forget he is 5 years old! This man raises my blood pressure daily... Im not even going to mention how this father lied to me and suckered me into buying something for the family and now owes me over fifty dollars. Ill never see that money again!

On a lighter note- Ablaye and I will be home in 42 days :):):):) The month of November will be a busy one for me. Im looking forward to having lots to do so i wont sit around and count down the minutes to coming home. I dont know if it will work though :) We are so excited to see everyone. I just updated my ipod today with all christmas music. I know its early but "The best way to spread christmas cheer is to sing loud for all to hear" (quoted from Elf)

Still waiting for my new little niece Lucy... whats going on in there???

Im finally in good health!

I just finished with a week long complete body check up with the PC doctor. I am finally completely healthy... no parasites, no wounds... its nice. Every volunteer has to go through a big check-up after they have been here for a year. I procrastinated and just now got around to doing it. Im happy to say that i have no problems. Also, the rainy season has pretty much ended. It hasnt rained in weeks. That usually means that many of the bugs go away (including mosquitos) and skin infections start to disappear. The cold season should be coming on strong in the next few weeks. I cant wait! When i say cold season, i mean like 70 and 80 degree weather during the day. Its so bizarre how much my body has adapted in the last 14 months. I woke one night last week and was freezing. I got out my big winter blanket and checked the thermometer. It was a whopping 72 degrees!!! Im going to die when i come home for christmas lol.. but certainly looking forward to the cold weather.

Things here have been going well. I have been in Dakar for the last week. I feel like i have been here soo much in the last few months. I have been sick so often that i pretty much have been here A LOT. Atleast this visit was on my own terms and i didnt have to stay in the medical unit. I have been staying with an American lady named Alice. She lives downtown and i stay with her sometimes when i come to Dakar. Let me just say that she is the nicest lady EVER. She is always so welcoming and generous when i come over. Last night she took me out for sushi for my belated birthday. I havent had sushi since i left the states and it was more than delicious. Lets just say i have been well taken care of in the last week.

On another note, i have recently found more with with an NGO in Sokone. It looks like it is going to be great work with great people. The NGO finds children that are under priveledged and hooks them up with sponsors in France. The sponsor sends a recommended thirty dollars a month to sponsor the child. This pays for school fees, school supplies, and healthcare. The program is really good and the people really know what they are doing. I went to them to find out what their program is about and found out that they dont even have a website. After talking to them, they told me they really want to extended their program to America and see if they can find sponsors there. I explained the importance of a website and agreed to create one for them. I have spent the last week working on getting a website going and putting them on wikipedia. Ill let you all know when it is finished! Also they have asked me to be acting liason between their organization and America since there is only one person in this group that speaks fluent English. I will be the main contact point for people in the states that do want to donate or sponsor. Also I am in the process of starting adult english classes in Sokone with this group. There are A LOT of people in my area that speak some English but need help in order to become fluent. Im hoping to get my classes going within the next week!

I hope everyone at home is staying warm... Ill be home in just a few short weeks. As of now, im just trying to get back to the village and get to work. Im also anxiously awaiting the arrival of my niece... hopefully i will be getting a call in a few weeks saying the family has a healthy new baby girl!

Nam Noun Mbiu???

Mbedee jamm! Taa Mbind naa? Jaam reek Mene. Xaye, jegaam Ganard. Xaarit es, jessica, a xe gardaa no mbind in. Contantaam! kaa faax. Fogaam xan in tayel naal fop. Apres, Kaam bugo jow a put. Xan in naam apaax!

ok, so that was a little bit of sereer. the language i speak here in my village. My language has come such a long way and in th past few months i have noticed myself go from good to really good. Above i just said...

Good morning. how is your family? We are in peace here. Today i will have a guest. My friend jessica is coming to visit us. I am very happy. i think we will be lazy all day but i will cook lunch. We will eat a lot.

haha pretty elementary but thats how people talk here in the village; there are always the same exact greetings every single time you see someone.. How areyou? how is the family? are you in peace?


!Hope everyone is doing ok and happy and healthy. Excitement is growing deep inside because in about two months i will be home for christmas vacation!!!! I have never known such excitement! things here have been going great since i got back to the village. I havent done much in the lines of work lately because everything has been planted and people are just waiting to harvest their fields. the rains are slowly starting to subside... Which means the cool season is soon to come. But things have been quite humid lately. I started waking up in puddles of sweat again...nasty! Within a month or so the weather should tame down. I cant even imagine what it will feel like in america. I was freezing a few nights ago and woke up and checked the thermometer. It was 71 degrees...
I am in the midst of waitng for money for my school garden project; i have had this project in the works since last February and am reallllllyl hoping to get it funded. Say a little prayer for me because i need all i can get. If i dont get the project funded soon, i doubt it ever will :( the school garden project will be huge for the village and for the school. Now all i need is Peac corps to approve the project and hand over the xaalis (money in wolof).

I recently spoke on the phone with the new volunteer coming to live in the village beside me. she is learning Sereer also. She sounded super enthusiastic on the phone and i am so excited to get a few face around here. I think she and i will have opportunitues to work together in the future. she will be living lless than a mile from me. Her family has never had a volunteer before so i think she may need a little help in the beginning. people here sometimes are confused about what a volunteer is really supposed to do here. I am hoping i can be a good reference for her to get her on her feet.

We just had Korite in the village... The holiday is the end of ramadan. I actaully celebrated it twice because on half of the village celebrated it on Sunday and the other half celebrated it on monday.. to say the least, i ate more than my fair share. I got some really good photos that i put up on facebook. i realize not everyone uses facebook so i will try and add them to my online photo album in a few minutes...

Miss you all..... 70 days until i get home lol

Happy Birthday, Mom

Tomorrow, my mother will be having a birthday....

Mom- Happy 25th birthday to the most beautiful mother in the world. May all of your dreams come true!

Happy Anniversary

Before i start, I am alive and well as of now. No permanent damage. I have just been released from the hospital. I was diagnosed with Malaria on Tuesday and had to spend a few days in the hospital to see what was going on. I was having terrible pains in the right side of my stomach. I also had a fever of 102. It all started in the middle of the night Monday so i toughed it out through the night and called the doctor first thing Tuesday morning. She really wanted me to come to Dakar to examine me but there have been insane downpours this week and the road to Dakar is basically non-existent anymore. The PC doctor thought it was too dangerous for me to try and take public transportation all the way to Dakar during all of the rains. Another volunteer tried and his car ended up washing away with several people in it and they ended up having to swim out of the nearby river. Anyway, i was in no shape to head to the garage and attempt to make it to Dakar. The PC doctor told me to go to the hospital in Kaolack. Sooo, i headed out the door in what was basically a monsoon and practically crawled to a taxi crying hysterically like a baby. By the time i made it to the hospital, the town was pretty flooded and i had to wade through water to get in. After arriving, i was taken aside and three women pretty much started stabbing me with needles and not telling me what was going on. It sucked... A LOT. They didnt speak the same language as me but they kept asking me "Why are you crying??" Im sure the reasons for th hysteria are pretty obvious (1. I was in a lot of pain. 2. I was ALONE in the nasty hospital in a foreign country. 3. They were giving me unkown injections and NO ONE would tell me what was going on!!!) but they just couldnt seem to figure it out. After about thirty minutes i broke down and called the PC doctor in Dakar and told her i was about to leave because they wouldnt tell me what they were injecting into me and she called the hospital and had a talk with the doctor. She called me back and basically told me it is Senegalese custom to not tell the patient whats wrong with them or give them any updates of whats going on UNTIL THEY ARE RELEASED!!!!! She convinced me everything was ok so i decided not to sneak out and was later thrown into a back room and sat there alone for the rest of the day having no clue of anything that had happened. I was told i couldnt leave until my fever went down. The next day other volunteers came by to check on me and basically i took the IV out and told them i was leaving. They let me go and told me i had Malaria. I went back to the regional house and waited for a PC car to be sent to get me. I ended up in Dakar early yesterday morning. I have been in the hospital here since. The PC doctor is skeptacle of the results the hospital in kaolack gave me because they told me if their results were accurate, i would be dead. This morning i was sent to have an ultrasound of my liver, intestines, gall bladder, et and the results show that my mid section is inflammed but they have no clue why because all of the other blood tests came back negative. I was told there is nothing they can do for me at the moment and i am just kind of waiting it out. I am continuing the malaria treatments and that seems to be under control and going away. Another volunteer was diagnosed with the same stomach issues this week as well so they are keeping me here over the weekend to be sure that i dont have some sort of virus but everything looks ok at this point. No moer fever and just minor stomach pains. I should be released on Monday.
Thanks for the nice messages from those of you who knew i was here in the hospital. I appreciate them all. Also i would like to address another issue. Many people have responded to this and other med issues by saying "COME HOME." Thats nice that people want whats best for me and want me to come home but i just want to let people know that saying that does not make my life here any easier and i have no intentions of coming home. Illness is a fact of life here and people just learn to deal with it. Malaria is the only illness i have had in the last year that is life threatening and we have more than enough healthcare here provided by PC to deal with that as it comes (i just happened to have really bad luck and get sick during a monsoon). Yes, i realize i have been sort of a magnet for disasters so far but all of the illnesses have come and gone and life goes on. Im not finished with my work here and plan to stay until i feel like i have accomplished everything i came to do. When that happens i will let all of you know :) Until then just keep reading! Ill be sure and post an update early next week to let everyone know how i am doing.

By the way, today is my one year anniversary here. Happy anniversary to the 38 out of 40 of us that came last Sept who are still here.

Also, Happy 18th Birthday Devin! Hope you have a wonderful day! xoxo

hurt yet again

Just wanted to give a quick recap of the past week.

Today my host father was gone all day. He left early in the morning and the family knew he wouldnt be back until late afternoon. Around 11 am i noticed that my mothers were cooking up a pretty decent sized lunch. Dont forget that it is Ramadan and people are supposed to be fasting. Around 1 PM i was called to the bowl to eat lunch. The whole family came to eat and i didnt say anything about fasting but i was wondering what was going on. Anyway, halfway through we hear a car stop out front and the host father coming in. Both mothers took the food and ran! They hid it in their rooms so the host father wouldnt know they weren't fasting.... oh, Senegal!

So a few days ago i went out for my eveing jog. I go jogging every day on the same road and pass the same people. This particular day i decided to stay on the main road since it had rained a lot and was quite muddy. I was sprinting home and with about 1/2 mile to go,i tripped, lost my balance and went skidding across the pavement. And when i say skid, i mean SKID. I tore the skin on both of my palms, both knees, have big skid marks going up my calves and stomach. I dont know what has happened to me since coming here but i am a total clutz and prone to illness and accidents. None of my injuries are healing quite yet and when i stand up and blood run hrough my legs, my calves feel like they are being run over by a car. It sucks to say the least. When people see me they say "OMG What Happened to you?" and i have nothing better to say besides i fell down. Then they always ask "Oh, you mean you fell off your bike?".... No, no... no bike involved. Then they laugh at how much of a loser i am just just fall down...

At this point i just sit bac and laugh because its always something...

Ramadan

Ramadan is the ninth month of the islamic calendar. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, and indulging in anything that is in excess or ill-natured; from dawn until dusk. Ramadan officially started yesterday here in Senegal. The days of Ramadan change each year depending on the moon. During this holy month, Muslim families wake up each morning at 5 am. They eat and stuff their faces until about 6:15... say their prayers... and then back to bed. They lay around all day, maybe sleep some to ward off hunger pangs, some even have to work out in the fields all day. They do not put ANYTHING (not even water) into their bodies until dusk when the sun has just set down over the horizon. The sun is usually out for about 13 and a half hours each day. This is hell on earth for many people. Others beg to differ and say they love fasting. I am not participating in fasting but i can imagine the suffering these people go through all day long for the month of Ramadan.

I experienced Ramadan last year from the training center in Thies but experiencing it with a family is completely different. First off, even though i wasnt fasting, i spent most of the first day starving as well. Who knew that when Ramadan started that all boutiques in the village would be closed?? I sure didnt. I didnt buy anything for lunch in advance because i thought i would be able to just get something at one of the boutiques. That didnt happen so i jumped on my bike ready to pedal into Sokone. Whomp, whomp... sure enough my bike had its third flat tire of the week. And in observance of Ramadan, there was no public transportation the last three days in a row....ugh! I cant complain too much because i know it could be a lot worse and i could be missing lunch for thirty days in a row, not just one!

I went for my evening jog and hurried back just in time to break the fast with my family. I kind of felt like a chump participating in breaking the fast with them because i actually wasnt fasting... but the family wanted me to be there. Around 7:20 just as the sun had just gone over the horizon, my host father passed around a bowl of dates. Each person took one and broke their fast. Breaking fast with dates is a muslim tradition. After that each person received a small piece of bread and a cup of coffee. Everyone scarfed them down quickly. To my surprise no one reached for the water. I cant imagine not hurtling towards the bucket of water after not drinking for an entire day. Shortly after, the father lead the family in prayer. I have seen this many times but will describe it for you. They all line up on prayer mats and face the same direction. The father is in front, followed by the boys, and the women and girls stay in the back. The women MUST always be in the back because they think that if a woman is in front of the men, the men might let their thoughts wonder... Anyway, the father led the prayers and they all did the bowing and kneeling simultaneously. This is the part where i was shocked. My host mothers and sisters sat in the back and talked and did not pray. They did the movements and pretended like they were praying but were actually laughing and talking about dinner. When the host father turned to check on everyone, they stood up straight and put on their prayer faces and pretended to be deep in prayerful thought. I stayed off to the side and waited with the kids for the family to finish. After the prayers, we ate a very large dinner and the night went on like normal.

After the dinner was over and everyone seemed settled, i asked one of the family friends why the women pretended to pray if they really werent into it and didnt care. He gave me a short answer and just said "they have to"... i continued to press him and ask WHY do they have to if they never pray any other time and why do they even bother with fasting. He just told me it was not their choice and since they are muslim, they have to... simple as that. I feel that many things in Senegalese culture remain like this. I do not think that it is Islam, i think its the culture in this country. There are no real answers to many questions, people just do things because they HAVE TO or because they know a friend or neighbor is watching. After seeing the way the women in my family were acting on the first night of prayer, i now feel strongly that there really is not as much fasting going on as one would think. If they just pray only when others are watching, i have a feeling that they are just fasting when others are watching as well.

Sometimes its hard to differentiate the culture from the religion because people here blame many things on the religion when in fact, its just the culture. For example, women walking around topless/ breastfeeding in public. In true Islam, women would never, ever be allowed to take off their shirt in public or feed a child while someone was watching. Even the fact that men can marry up to 4 women at a time is a controversial one. In true Islam, a man can take on a second, third, or fourth wife IF AND ONLY IF he has enough money to financially support them all comfortably and not have to worry about money. In my opinion, there are very, very few people in this country that have the means to do that. People take on as many wives as they please here and always fall back on Islam as their support and justification. I am not a muslim and have no intentions of every becoming one but i find it enlightening when a true Senegalese muslim can admit that there are many problems in this culture rather than just join the crowd and blame Islam. I have had many a arguement with village men about how they blame Islam for their reckless behavior.

New topic: We finally completed the Mangrove project that i have been trying to get going since January. We did a mangrove restoration day last week and it was a success. Three other volunteers and i went out on a small boat into the already existing mangroves last Monday and collected over 6,000 transplants (see attached photo). The transplants grow on the trees but when the tide comes in they usually get swept out into the ocean and dont have a chance to grow. Mangrove trees grow near beaches in water that is about waist deep. The tide comes in and goes back out twice a day where the trees grow. When the transplants get swept out into the ocean and away from the beach, the water is too deep from them to grow. We ended up collecting 4 rice sacks full of transplants on our day out at sea. The following day, we held a meeting in Sokone and invited the Mayor and many other small political groups and random committees to help us plant. The meeting lasted WAYYY too long but the groups learned about the importance of the mangrove trees in the ecosystem here and they were also taught how to collect and plant the transplants so they could continue the project in the future. A few days later with about 50 Senegalese people and 15 volunteers, we set out onto the beach to replant. Just at the exact wrong minute, a huge storm blew over and we ended up outplanting in a downpour. The outplanting was quick and simple. The project was great and i hope people will do another project like this in the future.

In the last week, the rains have finally started to hit us hard and it has been wonderful. I finally have been able to start sleeping in my hut now (instead of in my backyard by the latrine!) since the temps have dropped below 100 degrees. The fields are all green and farmers are starting to have their crops sprouting. I have spent many days in the last week just going to each farmer that i gave seeds to so i could check and see their progress. People are more inclined to do good work when they know someone else is looking. My "boss" is coming this week on Friday to check out my work and to see how things are going with the farmers. everyone has been in a hurry to weed their fields for him.

Other news: Peace Corps finally bought us another regional house so we will be moving out of this rodent-ridden dump in just a few short weeks. THANK GOD! Also, I heard last night that a new volunteer will be moving into the village next to me. It is a Sereer village so i am hoping someone fun moves in there. Its always nice to have cool people living near you. I am excited to find out who/when/where, etc. There is only one bad thing, the volunteer moving in there will be doing a sight visit with me from Sept. 12-17th. I will be spending my 25th birthday in the village with a stranger. Not exactly ideal since i already had a island vacation planned with another volunteer yet again. Last year's birthday was spent in the village so i guess i will live through another. Maybe this just means an even bigger/better vacation than i already planned later!

English Camps

Let me begin by saying Dakar is great and i have had an amazing week thus far. I have been busy teaching English this week for the Embassy summer camps. Working for the summer camp has been a great experience. I have been paired up with 3 other volunteers to teach about 50 students all week. The schedule is relaxed and we can pretty much do whatever we want with the students. The whole point of the week is to get the kids practicing their English with native English speakers. We have played a lot of games, read a lot in English, had conversation hours, etc. The students are really great with the language and have really warmed up to us volunteers. Yesterday, we had a conversation hour and my group of 15 students started their own debate. The topic was Polygamy. They chose the topic and ran with it. I was shocked that the kids had such an interest in the subject. They had an opportuniy to ask me questions about how i feel about certain subjects and about American culture in general. I gave my opinions on some of the topics and i really think what i said gave the girls a lot of confidence and they were able to speak about how they feel without being shy. The conversation/ debate went great and i think the kids learned a lot from it. These kids have only been studying English for about two years but are very smart and have picked up a good amount of vocabulary already. I only have two more days with the kids and will be sad to leave. Friday we are having a talent show and a small party to celebrate the kids finishing the program. After class friday, the kids will no longer be part of the Embassy English program. It is only a two year program. I think they will be sad to leave too. It has been great to have had the opportunity to work with such bright and talented kids. I have seen improvements in just this week alone. Sometimes it gets discouraging teaching English in the village because i started from square one. It has been nice to see that with hard work, the kids really can/will/want to learn English.
I have spent the week here in Dakar concentrating on getting healthy. I am happy to say that i hve no ailments at the moment lol. I am starting to feel like an old lady. I was blessed with Creeping Eruption last week (google it...its sick!) I also had a root canal last week. I went to the dentist for a minor tooth ache and came out with a root canal. Apparently the dentist i saw in the states before coming to Peace Corps was a quack. The dentist removed two of the fillings i had put in last summer and did the root canal because he said i would have serious trouble in the future because of the way she put the fillings in incorrectly... who knows if this is true or not... maybe he just needed some business. Either way, PC pays so i did what i was told and showed up for my appts. Since i am ALWAYS getting sick here, i have decided to make some major lifestyle changes. I am going to stop eating with my family and start cooking for myself. I think my family has cleanliness issues. I have never once seen soap around our home anywhere and am starting to think that they dont even use it to wash the dishes. Let me describe what happens before we eat lunch.... (keep in mind that everyone eats out of the same giant bowl)

First... everyone is called to the bowl and we all sit on small little benches that are about 2 inches off the ground. The girls get benches, the boys squat. There is a small can of water passed around the bowl and each person puts both hands in the bowl to wash before the meal. There is no soap involved and they do not change the water. Everyone uses the same water. There are approximately 13 people eating out of the bowl at any given lunch. Also, dont forget that most villagers do not eat with a fork or spoon, the eat with their right hand only. After pasing the can around and washing, everyone digs in. Can you imagine what the water looks like after 13 villagers wash their hands in it?? It is definately BLACK. After the meal, each person finishes at their own pace and then goes back to the same can filled with dirty water to re-wash. Often, they use this water to wash their face as well after eating.
Let me back up and say that I always eat with a spoon and i never wash in this can. After almost a year of eating with people who do this, i am starting to realize that eating out of the same bowl after people that "wash" this way is making me sick all of the time. I always thought that i would be fine since i am not touching the water and i dont eat with my hand... WRONG. Little Ablaye has started sitting between my legs when he eats. We eat after each other all the time. I absolutely cannot continue to live this way. When i go back to the vilage next week, i am going to have a long talk with my family about using soap. I plan to buy atleast 10 bars of soap and some dish washing soap also. I hope this helps. The kids have been passing pink-eye back and forth for months now. I have gotten it three times already! No wonder this keeps happening. I already bought them soap and pink-eye medicine multiple times. Finally, i had to become psycho and start chasing people around with hand sanitizer everyday for a week...after that, the pink eye seemed to go away. It will be interesting to see if it has come back while i have been away.
It is easy to get sucked in to the way people live here. Many volunteers start to think crazy/disgusting behavior is normal. I want to start cooking for myself but i know it will totally offend my family and many people will be mad. At this point though, i have to start thinking about myself. If they are mad, so be it. I have earned my right to cook. It is so bizarre that something like cooking would make so many people angry... but i guarantee it will! Ill update on that later.
Other news... im a sucker and got conned out of about 50 dollars. Here is the story. I was walking down the street in Dakar a few nights ago at around 8 PM. I saw an Italian man speaking about a hundred miles and hour to a police officer. The police officer was just telling the man he couldnt help him and that he was sorry. The man sees a white girl and immediately approaches me. He told me (in English) that he had been traveling earlier in the day from Gambia heading up to Mauritania. He was on a bus and when he got off, someone snatched his bag. Totally believable. The man kept telling me he was desperate and needed help. He was pacing up and down the streets in this neighborhood because someone told him that an Italian family lived there. He told me he went to his embassy earlier in the day and they were issueing him a new temporary passport early the next morning. He had no money, no passport, no identity card, no phone. Red flag possibly.. but also Why would someone be talking to a police officer if they were phony??? He was dressed nice and i really thought i was going to see a grown man cry. He was freaking out because it was getting late and he had nowhere to stay for the night. He asked me if i lived in the area or if i knew people who did. I said no. He then proceeded to show me his receipt from Western Union. He told me that his family was sending him money the next morning but he didnt know what he would do for the time being. So i thought about it for a minute and realized i had to help the man out so i lent him the equivalent of 50 dollars. He told me he would meet me the next day in the same place i found him at 2 pm to repay me. He was very, very grateful. He took my phone number just in case and went on his way. I knew i gave him the money knowing that i was trusting a total stranger. 50 dollars here is a decent amount of money. It would have been enough for him to get a hotel, dinner, and breakfast the next day. I walked away without a doubt in my mind that he would come back and repay me. He knew i am a volunteer and also we talked about how we get paid basically nothing... Also, a friend was with me and she agreed that i did the right thing and he would come back the next day. I dont think i could have slept that night knowing that i left someone out on the streets. I am staying in a multi-million dollar home all week out of the kindness of someone else. (I stay with a lady that works for the US Embassy...she is awesome!) After class tuesday, i rushed downtown and waited in the same place i had met the man the night before.... and i waited... and i waited... and he never showed. I guess i am a sucker! I am soo angry that i was completely taken advantage of. Part of me wants to continue to believe the man and trust what he said,... he was robbed and had nothing...but why didnt he show up to repay me? Why didnt he call?? I cant imagine letting someone help me out if i were at an ultimate low point without following up on my end of the deal. I also cant imagine being a con man for a living. Wherever this man is, i hope he is sleeping well tonight. But someday he will get whats coming to him for being so deceitful! How rude!!! UGHH. i get angry even thinking about i now. Im letting it go and putting this in the back of my mind. I wont be lending anyone money for awhile.
Back to good news... I will be flying home on December 7th and staying until January 2nd.... I cant wait for a vacation!! I miss all of my famil and friends more than words can describe.

I will be going to Kolda next wek for Ag classes. I am leaving Dakar on Sunday and heading south. Its always sad to leave Dakar but the sooner i leave, the sooner i get to come back! Hope all is wll on your side of the pond. I heard about all of the storms... Its still barely raining here. I think the wells will dry up next spring. Send a few drops our way!

Dakar, here i come

I left the village late yeaterday evening. I was planning to stay until today but started to feel the oncomings of yet another illness so i decided to get out before I got reall sick. Sickness seems to hit me HARD in waves so i decided i needed to be proactive. Im currently in Kaolack at the regional house. My counterpart recently had a baby and another volunteer and I are going to the baptism later today. Relgious ceremonies here are never too fun but they are a big deal so i think its definately important for me to make an apparance. I was sick last night and my family knew it so I a hoping i can milk it for whats its worth and sneak out a little early today ;)

Things in the village have been good the last week. My english club started out successfuly. We had about 35 people show up to the first class and about the same to the second. The club is currently just learning the English alphabet and number 1 through 25. I have tried to squeeze in some fun trivia also. Im trying to make the classes fun so people will continue to want to come. if anyone has any ideas about fun games or project for English clubs, let me know. We tried to play telephone at the last club meeting. We made it through 3 people and then they completely forgot what i had originally said. We tried again and then someone stopped us and said "Huh, why are we doing this?" They didnt understand at all... I need something simpler.

I worked out in the fields some this week. I helped plant millet and i also helped till the land in a sorghum field. They definately do not have machines for this. There were about 6 women including me bent over with a small little han-held hoe digging up a 2 acre field. I stuck with them for about 3 hrs. Its two days later and the back of my tighs are still quite sore. I dont know where the women get the energy to do this type of work. I am definately in better shape than any of the women working in the field that day, but they kicked my butt in the work dept. In general, people wont let me work in their fields because thay say i will get sick. I forgot to mention that one of the women working out in the field is about 7 months pregnant. I saw how hard she was working and told them that if she could do it, i could too... Really it sucked but i was trying to prove to them that i am not as fragile as they think... The next day, i got sick so maybe i am more fragile than i think lol...

I passed out all of the trees that I have been growing. I donated a few hundred trees to a local cemetary. A man is planning to transplant the trees and create a better fence around the cemetary. I also gave away hundreds of other trees for random fencing in other family compounds. I also gave out many Nebadie trees. This is just a fsat growing tree that has very nutritious leaves. Many people use the leave to make a sauce to eat with millet. People were very interested in getting the trees and i think next dry season, i will plant even more. I am in the process of talking to the director of PC about trying to be replaced in the village by an Agroforestry volunteer after i finish my service. I think my village would definately prosper from having a agfo volunteer instead of just ag.

I am on my way to Dakar tomorrow. I am DYING to get there. Dakar is like a little America and I havent been there for almost 2 months. My family was joking around yesterday saying i was sick because i missed the city...they have no idea...hahaha.. I am going to Dakar to work with the US Embssy teaching English camps. I will be working with high schoolers and have been placed with my friend Thomas. We have about 45 students I think the wee should be a good one. Also, I am excited to get to the city with my friends, eat some good food, and hang by the pool...

Oh, Senegal

What a week this has been. I came back to the village with hopes of getting things done. I have been having a tough time the last few weeks here because it is planting season and have i mentioned... I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT FARMING????? I passed out all of the seeds and am following the progress of each field. There is no positive reinforcement whatsoever here so i have absolutely no clue if what i am doing is correct. Whatever.... ugh... anyway, I have decided to take it upon myself to keep busy doing other projects that i do know about. I have held classes each day this week on how to make insect repellent lotion out of neem leaves. People know about this repellent from the volunteer before me, but they dont seem to know how to make it. Its super easy and quite cheap to make. With the use of oil, neem leeves, water, and soap it is possible to cook up a lotion that repels insects such as mosquitos; therefore, reducing the number of malaria cases. Today i started the class with only 5 people showing up. Everyone kept telling me to wait and see if others would come. I decided to be hard-headed and go ahead and begin. Im tired of the Senegalese way of thinking that schedules do not matter. We cooked the ingredients and made the lotion at 10 am like i planned. We finished around 10:45 and soon after about 20 other people showed up. They couldnt figure out why i didnt wait for them... so i agreed to teach one more class on monday... Starting ON TIME!
I also got our Mangrove restoration project off the ground this week. We are planning to do a seed collection day on july 29th and have an out-plnting day on August 19th. I want to invite other volunteers and villagers to help with the out-planting. We are hoping to be able to plant several hundred trees in just one day. I am excited to find out that things are actually working out with this project.
Monday will be my first day of teaching an English Club. I have visited other English clubs in the area to see what the kids like to do. I went through the village and invited EVERYONE here so hopefully i will have a good turn out. Another volunteer is coming to help me get the club started. The first class will probably just be used to find out who exactly wants to study English and also find out English levels. i plan to break the club down into smaller classes for adults, students, and children... keep your fingers crossed for me because this is going to be a big project.... hopefully anyway!
Im trying to put in two more weeks in the village and then head to Dakar for a week. i am teaching English classes in the US Embassy... the next two weeks are going to be tough because its super hot still and its not raining much... wish me luck!

America, sweet America!

So i made it through the bike ride in one piece! Hooray for that! This past week has been looong and tiring and i am glad that it is over but i will say that i had a great time. Ill just start from the beginning and fill you in on the bike ride. We started out saturday morning in a Sept Place heading to Tambacounda. We were meeting other volunteers there and starting the ride sunday morning. The car ride down was not bad and we met up with the others and spent the afternoon being lazy and loading up on carbs. Sunday morning started off ok but we left hours later than we originally planned because of minor bike problems. There were 7 of us total. We headed out and got caught in rain showers almost immediately... but actually the rain was a blessing because it cooled things off quite a bit. Within the first 30 Km one girl decided she conveniently didnt want to do the ride anymore and caught a car back to Kaolack. This was really annoying but in the end it was for the best because she was dragging us down and complaining. If she was ready to give up that easily then she needed to go anyway...then there were 6. We did over 80 miles that first day. We stayed at another volunteers house for the night and tried to get some rest. The next day, approximately the same amount of biking. Day three- Riding through the game park. Daniel and i were super tired after the first two days and decided we didnt want to ride through the park 1. because we were tired 2. it is illegal and you have to bride the guard to let you through with a bike and i felt this was kind of dangerous seeing as lions live there and 3. It is a stretch of approximately 100 miles with no water. There are no villages through the park and no where to get clean water. A few other volunteers have tried to ride through unsuccessfully because of the heat and water issue. Daniel and I were soo lucky. We hitch hiked through the park and caught a ride with the nicest guy ever. We ended up on the other end of the park relaxing for the day and swimming. Throughout the day, others from the bike ride showed up because they ended up quitting in the middle of the park and catching a random car also. Two people actually made it through the park without quitting..props to them but im not ashamed of cutting out early. The next day, we decided we wanted to go to a nearby waterfall. We were told the ride was easy and we could get there in under two hours.... YEAH RIGHT! A few other volunteers tagged along and there were 9 of us total. We started out just fine and then things got rocky... i got deathly sick and was projectile vomiting off my bike. It was too late to turn backand i reallllly wanted to see the waterfalls...so i kept going. About the same time, another volunteer got a flat tire. And by the way, this ride was into the mountains so there were no cars or people to help out. We all stopped to help the girl with the flat but she seemed to know what she was doing and worked hard at repairing the tire. I decided to bike ahead of the group because i was so sick i was going much slower than anyone else and didnt want to fall behind. I biked for about an hour and no one caught up so i decided to sit along the trail and wait for the others. I didnt want to get too far ahead. Finally, after sitting for another 45 minutes, one girl caught up (Erin) and said the flat was still not fixed and the others were walking to a nearby village to see if they could find someone to help them. She and I decided to go ahead and keep biking because at this point it was about 6 30 PM and we were nowhere near our final destination. Around 7 PM, the worlds biggest storm blew in. We could see it coming. The sky blackened. Winds were howling and then a huge cloud of black stuff started heading our way. I had never seen something like this. Erin and I were pedalling at full force trying to get the heck out of there before it all hit. We ended up getting split up and i was caught alone in what i finally figured out was a huge sandstorm. I certainly was not able to bike through it so i jumped off and my bike was blown out of my hands and kind of just skidded on the path around me. I squatted down and covered my face. Sandstorms are outrageous but only last a short time. It was incredible. I have never seen winds like that in my life. After i got out of the sand and was able to see again, i ran to get my bike and jumped back on. At this point adrenaline kicked in and i was no longer feeling any pain.... i was completely terrified. I started pedalling and about 3 minutes later rain started pouring down in sheets. I couldnt see anything but i just kept pedalling. Finally i caught up to Erin. She had found some sort of shack and was screaming my name so i would come hang out in there until the storm passed. We stayed there for about 30 minutes. Dont forget about all of the others...they were still out in the storm as well. They managed to stay together and took a really cool video of the sandstorm action. I wish i would have been smart enough to bust out my camera but at that point i was only thinking of ways to get out of there. We waited in the shack and the others caught up with us and the storm subsided to just a sprinkle. We headed back out and still had about 10 miles to go and it was 8 pm. Only 4 of the 9 people had flashlights. It took us two and a half more hours to get to the campement where we were headed. We arrived around 1030 unannounced and starving. Luckily someone was still awake and let us in and gave us rooms. The man running the place went to wake up all of the women and they cooked us a big spaghetti dinner. The day turned out to be something we had never expected but we totally should have. Next time we will know to come moer prepared. While we were stuck in the storm, it was pretty scary but looking back, it was actually really cool and probably something i will never experience again.
The next day, we woke up and hit the trails to do some hiking to find these waterfalls. Senegal has had a problem with rainfall this year and one waterfall was dried up. We found another one and spent the day there swimming. It was gorgeous. I got some really great photos that i will send out later in the week. At the moment i dont have my computer and dont like uploading from pulic comps because of viruses. I will upload sometime this week so be on the look out. I got some great photos of people that acutally live in the mountains. They were doing laundry in a spring. We spent the next few days hiking around and biking to some nearby sights. We swam in The Gambia river, saw monkeys everywere, saw hippos, hiked, camped, played in the waterfalls, and even had a big party for the 4th that included roasting a pig and firworks! Many Senegalese people were watching our party and fireworks peeking through a broken fence. We all thought about what it would be like to be on the other side of that fence and were all thankful that we have what we do. I always think watching fireworks on the 4th is a good time for reflection but this year it was extra special because we just had to look anywhere around to be able to fully appreciate the life that we have been given. A life that most others in the world will never know.

Lets just say today i am more than tired. We didnt sleep last night and caught a bus out of town at 4 am. It was a great week but i was worn out and ready to go. There were about 60 volunteers in Kedegou and the regional house accomodates about 10. I dont think i got moer than 5 hours of sleep any night during the week. Camping is great but after about two nights, i really just needed a Holiday Inn!
Its about 730 PM here and i am deliriously typing so im gonna cut it off here. I need some serious sleep. I hope everyone at home had a happy 4th!!! :):)

Disclaimer

After re-reading the following post, i would just like to comment that i am fully aware of the dangers surrounding me and do my best to stay out of the way of those dangers...so dont worry!

Its raining, Its pouring, The old man is snoring....

Monday night at about midnight the rains finally came! It was great.... The past week has been extremely hot and humid. During the next month, it will rain one or two times each day for an hour or maybe two. During August, the heavy rains will come and it will rain A LOT. A few other volunteers told me that last year it rained for 5 straight days without stopping. The rains in Africa are not comparable to rains in America. We get torrential downpours. It can be a super sunny day and within 5 minutes a giant storms blows over. I have already been caught out in the rain once and it was actually kind of scary. I am looking forward to a good rainy season though. I have plenty of work in the fields with the farmers and plenty of good books in my room. One huge down side to the rainy season is KAOLACK! Kaolack is the nearest small city from my village. Our regional house is there. Kaolack is the nastiest place in the entire world in my opinion. There is no form of waste management here whatsoever. One side of town is just a huge field of trash and sewage...throw a few feet of rain on top of that and im sure you can imagine what the result is. Lets just say its not pretty and does not smell good either. The gutters are always overflowing and the stagnant water is just a gian breeding ground for mosquitos (malaria!) I will do my best to stay out of Kaolack as much as possible for the next few months.

Another completely unrelated subject: Today i witnessed a horrible car accident. An ambulance with a person in the back actually flipped over and landed upside down. Let me just say this was the most disturbing thing i have seen in a long time, if not my whole life. Immediately people started flooding out of nearby cars and going to see what happened. As we pulled over, people started getting out. I didnt want to be just another bystanding getting in the way but i decided to get out and see if i could help. Police are basically non-existent in situations like these. Also i will say that i have only seen a handful of Ambulance vehicles in this country as well. Peace Corps basically tells us to stay out of situations like these. But i could hardly sit back and do nothing. Many other volunteers have found themselves in the same situation. One girl even delievered a baby on the side of the road last year! Im definately not a doctor but i have been trained in CPR and first aid several times and I thought i possibly could help more so than some others that were standing nearby. I walked up to see two men slaying on the ground. I basically just wanted to see if there were any open wounds and to see if they were breathing. They were both breathing and no rushing blood... a few broken bones were obvious though. I then noticed two men trying to pull one man off the ground and make him stand up. I finally figured out that this was the patient in the back of the Ambulance to begin with. I started telling them to stop and to leave him on the ground...or atleast just move him into another car and get him to the hospital. The man was so out of it...one second he was laughing and the next he was crying and then laughing again. I was so mad at what was going on and no one was listening to me. A man came over with a medical bag so i assumed he knew what he was doing and i got back into the vehicle was riding in. (By the way, i was riding in a very small bus..seats about 25). Anyway, the next thing i know, they throw the man in the back of our bus on the floor and people start piling in on top of him and around him. They were gettig back to their seats so we could go. I flipped out and caused a scene. At this point i was yelling in English and i dont know if anyone understood what i was saying but i know they knew i was MAD! I was trying to tell them to put the man in a nearby car and get him to the hospital ASAP... he didnt have time for all of the 2u46278623756 passengers trying to load back in the car. People continued to get in and then i started getting scared. At this point i was worried about my own life. I knew that if everyone piled in, then the driver would take off and try to get to Kaolack asap. I also knew that we would probably end up like the ambulance and be flipped over within 5 minutes. The buses are not made to have stuff piled on top but they always put baggage up there. The bus somehow always ends up being much taller than wide... i know this makes for a dangerous drive...and not to mention the roads here are dirt and there are pot holes everywhere. I grabbed my bags and started climbing over people to get out. If someone was going to die today, it certainly wasnt going to be me! At this point i was half in tears because i was terrified and also for the poor dying man on the floor of the bus. He was hysterical screaming and praying and saying he didnt want to die. As i got out, i convinced a man nearby to tell them to get that man off the bus floor and into a car. He realized what i was saying and grapped a nearby sept place (car for 7...station wagon). They threw the man in and off they went. We pulled out shortly behind them and i got a glimpse of him a few miles later. Part of me knows he didnt live to see the rest of the day. I hope i am wrong. Who even knows what happened to the other man that was on the ground hurt too.... Sometimes common sense just isnt that common here.
On a lighter note, tomorrow i am headed to Kaffrine. I will stay there for one night with some friends and Saturday morning the big trip begins. I am going on a cross country bike ride with several other volunteers. I am super excited about it and have been preparing for several weeks. I have been biking about 30 miles every morning to try and get in shape for the trip. We will be biking to Kedegou and then throughout the Southeastern part of the country. There are moutnains and waterfalls..and we will be going around a game reservation so hopefully we will see some cool animals along the way. This is the first real time that i have been able to travel for fun since coming here. I have done some travelling but it has all been for work reasons. I am glad to get out of the village for a few weeks and just forget about everything. All the volunteers head down to that side of the country for the 4th of July. We are having a big cookout that day. All you can eat and drink all day for 6 bucks! Cant beat that! As most of you know, i am prone to accidents and illnesses here so keep your fingers crossed for me that i make it back in one piece! I packed my camera so i will be sure to take some good photos. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Rain, Rain... where are you???

Its is a HOT, dreary day here in Senegal. I am on my way back to the village today after a few wonderful days in Dakar. Have i mentioned before how GREAT Dakar is? I think so but i just want everyone to get the full effect. Things on this side of the world have been good lately, but still no rains! I have been waiting anxiously for weeks for the rains to finally arrive. When the rains do come, the weather will cool off dramatically. As for now, i am sitting in the regional house sweating. The thermometer in the house is reading 102 (It is only 9 am here!)
The last few weeks have really been productive for me and the village. I finished the mosquito net disribution i have been working on since January. I distributed over 300 nets to three different neighborhoods. These nets should directly effect between 700-1000 people because NO ONE in the village has their own bed. Usually there are 2-4 people piled in one. One mother in my father has 5 children sleeping together. I am thrilled that i got all of the nets out before the rains with no problems. The actual distribution was somewhat different than my family would have liked. The volunteer living in Diagle before i came told me that she had big problems when she did a nets distribution. She sat at a table at the local health hut and had the villagers come by to get their nets. In any western society, this sounds like the only logical way to pass out hundreds of nets..well not here! People came by and took mor nets than they should have and i think even shorted her money. African people RARELY know how to stand in a line and wait to be serviced. I cant imagine how hectic it must have been for her. I decided to take another approach. I bagged up about 50 nets and drug the sack out of my compound. I decided i wanted to go from door to door to pass out the nets that way i could do it as slow as i wanted and not have to deal with 300 people harassing me at the same time. My family saw what i was doing and was horrified. One mother immediately jumped up and told me i couldnt distribute nets like this because the sun was out and it was too hot. NEWS FLASH: the sun is always out and it is always hot!.. The family all began shouting at me at once telling me to pass out the nets the way the other volunteer did because i would be soooo tired if i did it my way. I ignored there advice and explained to them that the other volunteer ran into many problems doing the distribution at the health post and continued on my way out of the compound. And just so you know, dragging around a bag full of nets really is super heavy. It took me 3 days, but i went to every single family compound with my bag of nets and my list of names and passed out the nets. Yes, after three days, i was sunburned, tired, and my arms were very sore; however, i did not have any problems with the dirtibution and all ran smoothly.
After the net distribution was finished, i started to get bored again. I worked a little on seed distributions. I distributed rice, two types or corn, and two types of sorghum.Peace Corps gives ag volunteers improved varieties of seeds to distribute to farmers. I am supposed to give any given farmer one kilo of seeds and after the harvest, the farmer is supposed to give me two kilos back. Next year, i can use the seeds that were returned to me to extend to another farmer. The farmers are also supposed to save some of the improved varieties to replant the following rainy season. This sounds like a great plan, but i feel it has MANY glitches. For example, proper seed storage is very difficult and many farmers do not do it. When i moved into the village, the former volunteer left me a bucket with several kilos of seeds in it that she had returned to her at the end of last rainy season. I put the bucket under my bed and have not done anything with it until last week. I pulled out the bucket and opened the lid to find thousands and thousands of bugs eating away at the seeds. The bucket has been closed for months and somehow bugs still managed to get in. If the Peace Corps volunteers cant even store seeds properly, how can we expect others to do it???? (Not that i am blaming the other volunteer for poor storage). Also, bean seeds are extremely hard to save. Many people know it will be a failure and dont even waste the kilo to begin with. They just cook it then and there at the end of the rainy season.. i cant say that i blame them. Another problem with this system, Peace Corps leaves it up to the volunteer to choose who we want to give seeds to. I am using about 5 farmers that the previous volunteer used and about 5 new people. Many volunteers use the same farmers year after year. What does this teach the farmers? In my opinion, this teaches them that the American government will come in and give them improved variety seeds for free every rainy season and they dont have to do anything to get them. I did give my village father seeds this year just because i felt obligated to do so. I really have no desire to work with him but felt he would be super offended if i did not give him the seeds. He told me this is the 5th year in a row that a volunteer has given him seeds. As far as i know, he didn't save any seeds from last year's harvest. Why should he continue to get the golden opporunity year after year?Volunteers are supposed to be here to teach techniques that are supposed to help improve yield numbers for each season. Do you think a 24 year old white girl from America knows more about agriculture than these people here that have spent their entire lives working out in the fields??? I am not going to answer that question! We are also here to teach about crop spacing and monitor the fields with improved varieties each week. If a farmer is excelling, it is our job to take other farmers to look at the best fields so they can learn what they should have done to get the same effect. This part of the job, i can do. I just dont feel completely comfortable knowing that my main job here is a job that i am not qualified to be doing. Anyway, after the seed extension was finished, i got realllly bored. All of my projects are kind of at a stand still until the rains come. Nets distributed.....check, seeds distributed....check, tree peppineres all planted/replanted and growing...check, my work with the school garden and well project finished...check, bee hives finished and baited and waiting for a swarm to move in....check.
All in all, my work for the dry season has been quite successful and i am ready to get into the new season. After the rains do come, i will be working closely monitoring some of the fields with improved variety seeds. I also will be direct seeding thousands of trees in the women's garden. I have been saving seeds for a few months and the women are really excited about it. We will be using trees to creat live fences. The women all have garden plots in his beautiful valley that has horrible fencing. Cows and goats sometimes get in there and eat the crops. The trees that i will be helping them with this year are a thorny type of tree that doesnt get very tall. The trees are planted abou 50 cm apart. When they grow, the branches weave together creating a live fence that animals wont bother. This is more efficient than just buying a barbed wire fence or a metal sheet fence because the trees will live a lot longer than the other fences can last. And, this wont cost any money to do and will never cost money for maintenance. The women will be able to prune back the trees themselves. I am anxious to get this project going!

I hope everyone at home is happy and healthy. I havent heard from many of you in awhile. Send me an email and update me on your lives!!! Also, i want to give a shout out to Thompson's Chapel Church for donating money for my bee project and for mosquito nets!! It is very appreciated! Thank you all very much!

Drama, drama, drama

Sometimes when i sit down to write these things, i dont know where to begin. I think i will start this blog by saying Senegalese people have so much drama. We were told long ago back in September to watch out for Senegalese men. I knew from the day I stepped off the plane that there are many creepers in this country just waiting for a girl like me to walk past so they can hastle me about this, that, or the other. Well, just so happens that i have a first class creeper as a counterpart. Peace Corps assigns all agriculture volunteers to a male counterpart and a female counterpart. These people are supposed to be there to support us if we have questions or need help with work, etc. My counterparts have been nothing but great until about a month ago. Let me just add that my female counterpart is the bomb and i love her! On the other hand, my male counterpart has started coming on to me so much that i often avoid going to work in my garden. (i planted a garden on his property). He started sending me crazy text messages professing his love... i dont dont mean just one or two, Im talking daily! He has been staring at me and making bizarre comments to others about me. Finally last week i had to sit him down and have a talk with him. I told him if he continues this behavior, i will no longer work with him and we will not have ANY sort of relationship, not even friends. I am surprised by the way he i acting 1. because he has a wife 2. he knows i have a fiance and 3. Before my arrival, Peace Corps had a big session with all counterparts warning them about trying to pursue relationships with us. Ibou knows better! I shouldnt be shocked though, the PC volunteer living in the village before me warned me that he did the same thing to her. I guess he didnt learn the first time. This week, he has settled down some... hopefully things continue in that direction.
Also, there is drama within my household between me and the host father. He is soooo bizarre. I mentioned it before, but he recently got married to two new wives (now with a total of 4!) and is always on the go to visit them. The two new wives have not moved into our compound yet but i heard one of them should be coming next week. Anyway, After Ibou and I had a long talk about him being a wierdo, he told me we needed to have a talk about Diokel (host dad). Ibou told me that Diokel has been spreading rumors around the village about me to his friends. He has been telling people that I am Ibou's toubab (toubab is the word Senegalese people use for white person or westerner). He has also been telling people that I am lazy and I dont work and i havent done anything since i came here. Ibou told me that Diokel often harrasses him about working with me and about helping me with projects. He also said that sometimes if he does something for me, it has to be a secret because Diokel will be mad that i didnt ask him for help. In Senegal, the father of the house is the boss. What he says goes. Ibou is not Diokel's son but is basically part of our family and is younger than Diokel, therefore, Diokel has more authority than Ibou. This concept drives me INSANE. Diokel is not my counterpart and has never done one thing to help me and in fact he is doing the opposite by spreading rumors about me thoughout the village. So two days ago, i did the dreaded and had to call him out as well. I didnt want to do this because it is hard to call someone of authority out in English, let alone a language one has only been studying for 8 months. I worked up the nerve and went into his room and asked him if he had time to have a talk. I explained all of the things that i have heard and asked him if he heard anyone say any such things. He started rambling off on some random subject which was his way of not answering my question. We talked for over an hour and basically he told me he doesnt like talking to me because i cant speak french. This should be irrelevant because our whole family speaks Sereer. He tried to take me to my friend Cisse's house because Cisse speaks English and he wanted to use him as a translator. I refused because i have noticed that everytime something tense comes up, Diokel wants to go talk about it with a 3rd party. There is enough talk about me going around the village, i dont need to drag my friends into the drama too. Anyway, after about an hour and a half, i think he finally realized i am not afraid of him like he wishes i would be. He told me he wants me to have more relationsips in the village. I told him i have many relationships in the village, i just dont have one with him because he is never home and never makes an effort to talk to me. We came to an agreement that i would come to his room atleast once a month to tell him about my work so he knows whats going on in my life here. I think it is pretty pathetic that i need to do this seeing as our rooms are right next to each other's and i should be seeing more of him than anyone else. After the conversation, he came to my room and gave me a big bucket of mangoes. I guess thats his way of saying he is sorry...who knows, but the magoes were good :) I think Diokel just doesnt know what to do because women here never talk back to men.
On another note, I spent the entire week last week in Dakar on Med hold. At this point, i almost want to laugh about all of the things that have gone wrong with my health in the last few months.
Two weeks ago, i was in my room rearranging things with my sisters. We were moving a large mirror to the other side of my hut when the handle broke off the mirror and the whole thing came crashing down on the back of my ankle. The mirror broke into a million pieces cutting my foot up. The mirror weighed probably around 15 lbs so the weight of it really hurt my tendon. I had to go to Dakar the following morning. The damage was not too bad but the doctor wanted me to stay because she was afraid i would end up with an infection if i went home. So i stayed in Dakar for a week and got a lot of sleep and just relaxed. It was nice! I also had an opportunity to go to the zoo in Dakar and see a few touristy things i havent had achance to see yet. The week turned out to be a good one.
Currently, I am in Kaolack. I came to pick up mosquito nets for distribtion in the village this weekend. We finally raised enough money to buy all of the nets we needed. This came at the perfect time because the rains should be coming in about two weeks and mosquitos will be out in full force. I also have a recipe for neem lotion and am working on it today. Neem lotion is a homemade lotion made from leaves from a Neem tree. It is used as an insect repellent. I am planning to make several batches of the lotion and my sisters are going to seel it throughout the village and in the local market. I am also meeting Mossally tomorrow (my boss). He s coming to Kaolack to drop off seeds for distribtion. Every year before the rainy season, ag extension volunteers extend seeds to certain people in their villages. These seeds are improved vareties of crops often grown in Senegal. B extending these seeds, the farming have an opportunity to grown crops that will produce higher yelds. They are also expected to save seeds for the following year. If this is done corretly, they can seel their improved variety seeds to friends in the village thus increasing the number of people with improved variety crops. I dont know exactly who i am going to extend the seeds to this year but am in the process of making a list of interested people. Its hard t know here who will actually work and who just wants something free. Its always trial and error i suppose.
I took some photos and will put them up online on my online photo album at snapfish.com. The username is candicewhittaker@gmail.com and the password is peace corps. I hope you are all having a great Memorial Day. Eat something yummy for me. It s currently 112 degrees in Kaolack... i might go roast some hot dogs on the sidewalk!

I woke up in the middle of the night to a mouse crawling up the inside of my pant leg...

When: 4:30 AM- May 10, 2009
Where: Kaolack, Senegal
Why: The regional house is a dump!

againstmalaria.com/kaolack

Things in the village have been CRAZY.. i have been working my butt off but have successfully planted over 1500 trees in tree sacks. I originally planned to plant 2000 in sacks and try to reach a total of 6000 by planting 400 more directly in the ground after the rains come. After spending my entire week sitting in a pile of dirt, i decided 150 will have to do. I went to the Eaux et Foret last week to get more bags with no success at all. The man working there was nothing short of rude to me and i left empty handed. Eaux et Foret provides farmers with trees sacks and other materials needed for farming. Everything is provide at no cost. It is sponsored by the Senegalese government. Unfortunately, they looked at me and laughed and i went home mad. Its so frustrating when I try to work and people let their ignorance get the best of them. Nevertheless, i found sacks and spent my week filling them. I also got my beekeeping project of the ground. I spent the day today building beehives out of concrete. It was actually a success... as far as i know. I am now waiting for the concrete to dry so we can bait the hives and wait for the bees. Things are going surprisingly well. I originally wanted to weave hives out of grass but found this incredibly time consuming. The westerner in me came out in full force and i headed to the local quincallerie to buy cement to make the hives the easy way. I am in need of buying some beekeeping suits and tools but am looking for someone to sponsor my project. If anyone would like to donate money to sponsor this, please let me know via email.

On another note, i stepped on a scorpion this week in the garden while watering with no shoes on. I got stung and thought i was going to die. I started to panic and then realized i was alone... so i collected myself and sat down and cried. Scorpions can be deadly but i remebered the doctors saying the scorpions here are not. After i cried like a baby i went back to watering and pulling weeds. For the next three days, my whole foot was swollen and itched so bad i thought i was going to scratch it off. At the moment, it is doing much better and only my toe is swollen.

I have found a new group of friends.... Im sad to admit it, but really my best friends are a group of 10 year old kids. These kids have helped me tremendously with my pepinering. They all worked really hard last week helping me prepare the soil and fill sacks. I gave them some school supplies at the end of the week and now i am basically a celebrity. They were so happy to receive so little. School supplies are hard to find here and when they are available, they are expensive. If anyone is interested in sending school supplies please let me know... THE KIDS NEED ALL THEY CAN GET. While I am at it, i will give a shout out about our malaria prevention project. We are in desperate need of $700 more dollars. We are raising money to buy mosquito nets. The rains will be here in about a month and the malaria counts will start to flourish. Sleeping with a mosquito net dramatically reduces the chance of contracting malaria. If you want to know more or donate money, please go to againstmalaria.com/kaolack... Any help for any of these projects would be more than appreciated!!! I hate asking people back in the states for money for our projects but really, a little goes a long way over here.
I hope everyone back at home is happy and healthy... i just realized i have been here for a whole school year... CRAZY!

P.S. I love The Gambia

I just returned yesterday from a trip to The Gambia. I went there with a few other volunteers to study beekeeping. The Gambia was absolutely great and was really different than Senegal. The people there speak English so it was immediately easier to relate to them. Also, The Gambia does not have Talibe' (the kids that go around begging for money to give to the religious leaders). The weather there was cooler and the people were a million times less aggressive. I was only there for 4 days so maybe i dont have a complete view of what life is truely like there, but from what i saw, i loved it. The travel guide books label The Gambia as "Africa Light" and i can completely understand why. Whe we were walking down the street, we rarely had anyone call us Toubab and not even one time did someone appraoch me and ask for a gift. Dont get me wrong, i like Seegal, bu going elsewhere for a few days made me realize just how tough it can be to be a foreigner living here. I tried to explain this to some of my Senegalese friends and they got very upset and offended. They think The Gambia is completely the same...and to them, it probably is. I think that many Senegalese people will never understand how hard it is for white people to live here because simply...they are not white. When i am with Senegalese people, i am not treated the same in public as i am when i am alone or with other white people....really its sad. Immediately when we crossed back into Senegal yesterday we were hassled. There were 4 of us waiting in the car for others to come and fill it up. The car needs atleast 7 people in it before it will hit the road. Along came 3 men and hey told us that they would not get in unless the girls moved to the back seat. The back seat is dreadful and is very tiny; however, we moved just so they would get in and we could leave. As the car started moving, one of the men began talking about us in Wolof and saying that our friend did not deserve to sit in the front seat. They all continued assuming that we could not speak wolof.... me having the big mouth that i do, decided i wanted to call him out. I politely tapped him on the shoulder and said i speak Wolof and what he was saying about my friend was rude. He immeditaely started yelling at me telling me i couldnt speak wolof. He spoke Sereer and so do i so i started speaking in Sereer because i can speak that better and he just continued to yell at all of us and say we couldnt speak the local language and it was none of our business... i finally ended the conversation by saying something in Sereer that doesnt translate to English...but pretty much i was telling him it wasnt important and Allah was watching. When someone brings Allah (God) into anything here, the table always turns and people immediately panic... after this, he shut up. My friend in the front seat that was being insulted was mad at all of us girls for starting an arguement, but i felt totally happy with the results. Women in this culture NEVER stand up for themselves and i loved it that 3 girls did exactly what they teach women to never do here. The man was wrong in what he said and he needed to be corrected. I think by sitting there and not saying anything, we would have just reinforced his ignorant behavior. Maybe next time, that man wont just assume white people cant understand him... and i know next time, i wont give up my seat for anyone! This little fiasco happened immediately after we got back into Senegal. This just made me realize how nice taking a trip to Gambia was. I livevery close to the border and think i will be visiting more often :)
So back to the bees.... the classes were great and i left there with all the knowledge necessary to be able to start my own bee hie. We learned how to make a homemade hive, how to attract the bees, how to harvest their honey, and how to maintain a colony. The classes were intense but i thoroughly enjoyed it all. I was even able to suit up in safety clothes and go out and harvest honey from a live colony. It was scary but i managed to not get stung.... many others were not so lucky. The bees can actually sting through the safetly clothes. Also, after we were finished harvesting the honey, the bees followed us around and we had to walk about a mile and wait about an hour before we could take off the suits. Many people ended up with several stings because the bees hide in places on the suits and then attack when the person is undressing. All in all... i love bee keeping and plan to start it in my village asap. It is dangerous but if classes are taught properly, it is a great way to generate income. I have 3 farmers that are interested in beekeeping so i plan to go back and teach them what i have learned.
I am going back to the village in about an hour. I have a million things to get done. Work has been booming since the rains will be coming in about a month or so. In the next week, i plan to start having latrines dug in the village. I already recieved the funding and just need to buy the materials and have the pits dug out. My village will be receiving 15 latrines. I also plan to plant 2000 peppineres... i have been putting this off long enough! I WILL get this done this week. I also need to do some major work in my garden. It royally sucks. I am the worst gardener in Senegal!
I hope all is well at home. Big shout out to Jory and his class for hooking me up ith school supplies and other fun things for the kids...they loved it all!

bees, bees, bees

Last week, I had yet another bad run in with cashews. I ended up with a rash covering most of my body and a trip to the doctor. I am FINISHED with cashews for the rest of my Peace Corp service....Anyway, things are good now and i just returned from a much needed week in Dakar. I spent most of last week entertaining two guests... a Tostan volunteer and her friends from Rome. They came to the village and stayed for a few days and then we headedto Dakar for the weekend. I think they both enjoyed time in the village but realize now how hard life can be there. I am glad they came. I had a wonderful time with them and it was nce showing of some of the things i have accomplished here thus far.
Tuesday I am headed to The Gambia with a few other volunteers to study about beekeeping. There has been quite a bit of interest in working with bees from the villagers and i think it will be a great way for me to do agriculture work in a different way than just gardening. I will be in Gambia for about 3 days and have been told i should have all the knowledge neccessary to be able to get started when i return. I am really excited about this little trip and hope to come out of it with some new prospects for work.
Things are really starting to pick up around here workwise. The rains should be coming within the next month and a half. Everyone is planting their gardens and starting tree peppineres now. I have a goal of planting 2000 trees using peppinering (tree sacks) before the end of May. I also have a goal of direct seeding 3000 trees during the month of June. I have collected a LOT of seeds for the women's group in the village. After the first few rains, we will be planting seeds for trees that will grow and make live fences. This will elliminate a lot of animals eating in the gardens when they should not be. Also, a live fence is completely sustainable on its own. So there is no need for outside funding or replacing the fence in the future. This live fence was something the volunteer before me worked on a little and the women are really passionae about getting it growing. It will take a few years before it will be ful grown but there is no better time to start than now!
I will be all over the place in the next few months. I will try and take some cool pics from The Gambia and send them out soon. Take Care.

If you are hungry, reach for something besides cashews

I want to sart this post by referring to the night last week that i almost killed myself. Before you continue reading, please note that I am alive and well..... OK so to start the story... There has been a shortage of food in many of the villages in Senegal. The senegalese economy is suffering much like that of america. Rice and other food prices are skyrocketing and many people have resulted to theft to feed their families. My family is suffering as well. Last week, we ate millet and water every night for dinner. I have described millet here a few times before and lets just say water does not help the taste much. After about 3 bites of scrumptious millet, i went back to my room starving. It was about 9:30 pm as I scrambled around my room to find some peanuts and cashews to snack on before bed. (I found 6 cashew fruits the day before and saved the nuts...) I took a big bite out of the first cahew and noticed that MY MOUTH WAS ON FIRE... i immediately spit the nut out and began rinsing my mouth out with water... At that moment, i remembered another volunteer saying something about fresh cashews being extremely poisonous and many people get rashes from just touching them. I soon felt my throat beginning to swell as i washed my entire mouth out with soap. The skin on my lips began peeling off as the acid from the cashew set in. The taste buds on my entire tongue were burning off as well. I ran to my medical kit and downed 3 benadryls and 2 zyrtec. I wasnt sure if i was going to overdose on Benadryl but i new i was having an allergic reaction. I called the nearest volunteer and she biked over to be sure i was going to be ok. Keep in mind that it was pretty late at night to be riding a bike. There is no emergency service in this country so we sat there and waited it out. Luckily, after about an hour, my throat began to feel better. My lips and tongue have taken several days to heal. I finally started to be able to taste food again but im still not 100%. Today i told a few other volunteers about what happened and they were shocked that I am alive. They told me horror stories about others doing the same thing I did and not having the same luck as i had.... I dont know who is praying for me back at home, but thank you! As of now, I am finished with cashews!

After a visit to the doctor last week, i have been informed that I AM FINE... not the answer that i was hoping for because "you are fine" does not explain the fevers, vomiting, etc. (ill leave it at that)... the process to find a parasite is not fun and involves certain bodily functions im sure you dont need to hear about. Anyway, im fine and my health is slowly coming back. Maybe my stomach is just weak and cant handle the GOURMET food i am being served haha.

I arrived back in the village a few days ago and have stayed quite busy. Today i planted a small garden... AGAIN... i have not had much success in having a garden in the small space behind my house. Im not sure if the soil is not good, the sun/shade is not correct, or if i just suck... maybe all 3. After several tries and zero luck, i decided to move my garden elsewhere. I chose a spot in my counterparts garden. I sent out photos of his garden a few months ago but if you dont remember, it is beautiful and he is a wonderful gardener. I am hoping with a little coaching, i can actually get something to sprout! I am growing tomatoes, cucumbers, and brocolli. People here have never seen brocolli and dont know what it is. I bought plenty of extra seeds in Dakar and have extended a few of them to friends throughout the village. I am hoping this catches on and they like it. It is difficult to get people to think outside the box and try something new here so i only gave out the seeds to people that seemed really interested. My friend Cisse lived in Italy and he knows about brocolli and became my spokeman for the afternoon. People seemed more interested in the seeds after they heard him talking and not just me....Im still the NEW toubab in the village and people dont always trust what i say.

I am in the process of starting an Enlgish club. Most teens in the village have studied English for several years but rarely get the opportunity to practice with a native English speaker. I talked it over with the headmaster at the school and he agreed to let me use one of the classrooms after school. I am planning to do classes 2 times a week. I have been doing a lot of private tutoring and it is getting time consuming. I am hoping the classes will eliminate most of the private sessions and i will be able to reach out to more students.

My project with the elementary school is coming right along and i should be able to turn in the budget within the next two weeks. After i have the budget complete, i will just have to wait and see if the project gets approved. If so, construction of the fence/garden and well should start soon thereafter.

As of now, things are going great other than the fact that it is getting extremely hot. It was 105 degrees in the shade last week! I am adapting the the heat quite well though. I dont notice it much unless i am directly in the sun. Hopefully mother nature will continue being nice and bless us with cool evenings for a few more weeks. I am dreading going back to sleepless nights and sweaty sheets...

I hope everything is going well for each and every one of you keeping up with my travels. Take care and more to come soon:)